Madison times. (Tallulah, Madison Parish, La.) 1884-1???, 1887-05-14
rERNS-.&2. 90 PER YEAR
The PRESIDENTS MAIL.
letter. from All sorts OF Applicants
FOR Pension or piace-EPi~,ies o:
the Children.

Letters from All sorts pi Npp'lcaNt'
FOR Pension or place-EpiS'ies o:
the Children.
The presidents mail contains al
arrrt 20 OF from l1d 80 10 letters a
Jas from n.r,nu- whose claim, f,r pom
siou> are pending before the deprrt-
meut. These people address the ch.e'
executive in belle. pro12B.r, that he
pension Office Is next door TO size white
house and tina; theirs 5 the Jnlr letter
be NAV receive in week.
About one half of these .'t:ers are
sent 70 Ms. Cleveland Fl' writer's
IN such cases ". usual tho wives D.
daughters of the petitioners. Some ot
them De-tow upon Mrs. Cleveland -uch
titles ~ "II.r Meie,;y.' Empress.
aud other appelIatIOns -of rO atty.
There are few OF the letters that GD nos
contain some touches of human nature.
They are evidently written in the SIN
cerc Delief thai Mrs. Cleveland will as
sst them if her svmpathies can only %
aroused. With this object in view
great mass of deta Is Is set forth in the
obscure chirOgraphv and bad spelling.
makes its understanding a matter of no
.nconsideraOlr time and labor.
Il NAV be said in this connection that
neither the president nor Mrs. Cleve-
land 3 even aware of IN. existence OF
these letters. They are opened by au
unrOmautic and uuSent!mental clerk ar
the executive mansion. from whosa
hands they fall into the waste basket
aud are never heard of again.
lhc women vino adress Mrs. Cleve-
land furnish her with sugges-
tlOn- - 10 the better method OF
presenting Their claim 10 the president
On d; ~" uiauS which Il peruSal of the
tIc ir..c.s show tLI; al women hold IN
common is for her 10 wait until Mr..
Cleveland has had his supper and then.
when he IS enjoying quiet smoke in the
parlOr Is q bring the matter TO his at
ientlon. MANY of them tell her that
th., iS the hour of the day when = man
Is most amenable 10 argument. and
that thcy (the wr ierS) prefer this as the
safest time Tor presenting thoir own
requests.
The applicants for pensions who
write to the pres dent are. as has been
said. old soldiers. who. like the
fcmu ne part of the family.
are sadl; deficient in the principles of
even an elementary education. They
write. too. IN a more vigorous style
ihan their helpmeetS, and their Ian
ruare is sometimes of SO robust 4 ma
,uru mat it frequently provokes a smile.
For example, an Illinois man who ad-
dresses the president in letter re-
ceIved to-day SAYS:
The pension officials tell me to get
corrObnrative evidence from some OF
NV comrades. want to tell you that
1t is hell Of matter To get evidences
from men who 20 into an action and
never come out again and then he
continues bv saving that IA company
went into the Wilderness a hundred
stroag and III the rn OF the seven days
fight, there were but nine of the nGm-
Der who were left TO tell the tale.
Sometimes the letters are written BY
children. who begin in this tashiOn:
DEAR MIR PRESIDENT: l am lit
tie girl only 10 Years of age. NV papa
does not know | am writing this let
ter. Ii he Il he would not permit it.
Then follows 4 pathetic tale OF want
and misery. touching enough i'll its sim
pie style of treatment. but rendered
doublv 30 by the fact of the writers
youth and innocence.
Several months ago one of these
touching missives chanced To reach the
presidents eve. Its simple pleading
touched sympathet C cord in the pres
ideut's heart. The little miss begged
the retention of her father, a republic
can, on the board of medical examiners
in the New England town in which
their home was located. She said he
was very old and diving of IN incurablo
disease. The position paid him sala-
rv of about 81. 200 year, and in view
Of the fact that he could no longer prac-
tice his profession the foregoing sum
was their only source of income. The
letter concluded naively in these words
Papa must not know about this. Is
must be q secret between you and me
ifyou decide To keep him mark an y
on the back of the enclosed pOstal-card
and then | W. II know that you are go
ing TO grant NV wish. ~
The pres dent sent the letter and in
closure to Comm ssiOner OF Pensions
Black. with this Endorsement:
If there are no charges against the
examiner in question yOu will oblige
me by retaining him in his present
position. "
Gen. Black investigated the matter,
and found that the exam ner was nos
IN old man. bi', Oh the contrary,
lusty young fellow scarcely 80 years OF
age, and that 80 far from having "A
little girl only 10 years OF age" he
was not even married.
The telegraph after this couldn't car
~ his dismissal quick enough to him.
and nee that time letters from little
girls who write without their papa :
knowledge are incontinently destroyed
as fakes pure and simple IVasAiEg-
t0a C0T. HelU YOr; Herald.